HP's Pavilion dm3 gets new CPU, ships in EU

Last month HP announced two new 13-inchers, the Envy 13 and the somewhat more affordable Pavilion dm3.

The dm3 is quite a bit more sensible and appealing for the average consumer, but you still can't call it cheap. It packs a Core 2 Duo SU4100 at 1.3GHz, 4GB of memory, 500GB of storage and, oddly, a DVD burner. Apart from the DVD, the second distinguishing feature comes in the guise of discrete graphics, Nvidia's G105 with 512MB of memory to be exact.

You'll have to agree, the spec is rather impressive. Few CULV-based notebooks based on Intel's CULV chips feature discrete graphics, and even fewer sport an optical drive, although most people don't need one anyway. On the connectivity front you get 4 USBs, wireless, HDMI and eSATA. Unfortunately the 1366x768 screen has a glare coating, something we frown upon at FUD Central.

It ships with a 6-cell power pack and HP promises up to 8 hours of battery life. It's not very light, either. At 1.9kg it is one of the heaviest CULV-books on the market, but it's also one of the best spec'd. A few European retailers are already shipping it and the asking price is €799. Not very cheap, but we think it's worth it. [You mean you think it's worth it. Ed.]